The gay marriage performance last Thursday night in Newcomb Hall's art gallery and the ensuing discussion presented just a taste of the national views that are being discussed surrounding the issue of gay marriage.
Outside the staged ceremony, there were no protests and the audience was fairly receptive to opinions presented in the show. However, these students' views are not necessarily proportional to the national debate.
With the upcoming presidential election and referenda proposed in different states, gay marriage has become a heated issue that conservative states now are forced to confront.
Seventy-one percent of Missouri voters voted in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages in August. A similar ban won approval in Louisiana with 78 percent of the vote earlier this month.
A judge threw out the prohibition three weeks later because the amendment did not distinguish between marriage and civil unions.
Bans on same-sex marriage in state constitutions already exist in Hawaii, Alaska, Nebraska and Nevada, according to the Web site stateline.org, a review of individual state's politics and policies.
In response to these previous state initiatives, voters from 11 states, including Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Michigan, Ohio, North Dakota, Montana, Oregon, Oklahoma and Utah, will decide Nov. 2 whether or not to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples.
Whether or not these measures pass, the debate over gay marriage will probably continue at least 20 years into the future, at which point a rough consensus will be reached, Politics Prof. David O'Brien said.
During that time, O'Brien predicted there will be competing systems of laws in different states much like during the mid-20th century when states had differing laws concerning interracial marriage.
The passage of these measures will only keep this issue in the national dialogue, he said.
Polls show that banning gay marriages in these states has overwhelmingly strong support from voters, according to an October USA Today article.
The issue of gay marriage or civil union has become larger in the public consciousness after actions taken by various localities in the past year.
Last November, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled to sanction gay marriage. Following this lead, certain counties this year in Oregon, California and New Jersey have offered marriage licenses to gay couples.
Virginia accepts the federal 1996 Defense of Marriage Act's definition of marriage as only a union between a man and a woman as state law. DOMA empowered states to recognize or refuse to recognize same-sex, marriage-like arrangements allowed in other states.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed the Marriage Affirmation Act. This bill prohibits marriages or any other contracts between partners including civil unions or partnerships among same-sex couples. The law went into effect July 1. Del. Robert Marshall, R-Prince William, sponsored the initial bill.
The General Assembly also passed a resolution this year urging the passage of a federal ban on gay marriage. The measure easily sailed through both houses.
Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, sponsored the measure in the Senate, and Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, sponsored the bill in the House of Delegates.
While presidential debates this month were dominated by international policy and national economics, gay marriage and rights also were a point of disagreement between Democratic challenger Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and President George W. Bush.
On his official campaign Web site, while Sen. Kerry does not openly support gay marriage, he asserts he is a champion for gay rights.
Kerry cites support for members of the gay community to have partner benefits similar to those of heterosexual married couples. These could include equal health coverage and social security benefits.
Bush supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in order to protect the "institution of marriage." He has chided "activist judges" for seeking to redefine the institution.
The administration's support of this proposed amendment is at odds with the views of Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter is a lesbian. Cheney has said all people should be allowed to enter into whatever relationship they desire and that states should decide the issue.
Queer Student Union President Adrienne Patton said while the organization cannot take a political stance, it is obvious for whom members would vote when asked who the student group supports this election season.
"The QSU cannot endorse a political candidate because we are a 'cultural/ethnic' organization," Patton said in an e-mail reply. "We're not politically affiliated. But it shouldn't be difficult to imagine who most of the QSU members (the LGBT community) would support and who they would not support"
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